Friday Bolts – 5.14.10

In case you didn’t see the update yesterday, KD on the dunk contest: “MAN I WAS JOKING IM NOT GON B IN THE DUNK CONTEST.”

You can mark OKC off LeBron’s list I suppose: “Q: Would u want Lebron in okc? KD: Honestly, nah I like who we have..I’m the leader of that teem.” I’m a big fan of that answer. KD knows this is his team and he’s entirely confident he doesn’t need another alpha dog. I like that mindset. But how dysfunctional is the culture in Cleveland right now? The coach is shrugging off questions about his best player, the best player is dancing around with the fans’ hearts, the team chemistry seems jacked and the entire city is shaken. Let’s hope it never, ever comes to this in OKC.

Adrian Wojnarowski on LeBron again, this time mentioning KD’s agent, Aaron Goodwin: “Still, James will get it over it fast because he engages in so little self-examination. In his mind, and that of his cast of sycophants, blame belongs on his coach, Mike Brown, for his lousy adjustments and game plans. It belongs to general manager Danny Ferry for the unworthy teammates. James was no MVP in this series, but no one stays in his employ with impure thoughts of accountability. The next time you hear James, as the franchise star, say, “This was on me,” will be the first. All around James, his yes men never require him to deal in the currency of truth. Aaron Goodwin, his old agent, tried to be honest with him and his high school buddies, and it got him fired five years ago.”

Chad Ford with a few thoughts on James Anderson: “Anderson isn’t the quickest nor the most explosive athlete, but he uses his size, toughness and a knowledge of how to get to the basket and get separation to pour in the points. While he wasn’t a showstopper in the drills portion on Tuesday, when they rolled out the ball for 3-on-3 play on Wednesday, he dominated. No one who guarded him could do much to stop him. He even displayed an underrated skill — his ability to hit the open man when the defense collapses in the lane.”

Scott Brooks finds some motivation: “Part of a coach’s job is being able to inspire his athletes, to motivate them, to lift them up. But what inspires a coach? For Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks, it’s turning to the athletes of Special Olympics. “They’re inspiring,” he said. “They give us so many joyful moments. It’s fun to see and be a part of.” He would know. For the second year in a row, Brooks took part in the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics Oklahoma Summer Games. On May 12, he marched in the annual “Parade of Athletes” in Gallagher Iba Arena on Oklahoma State University’s Stillwater campus.”

And Green is only one below average who has been around multiple years. Ibaka is at the same overall level in early measurement, though their offensive / defensive splits are both polarized but quite the opposite with Ibaka's wider.

If change in 1 year Regularized Adjusted Plus / Minus from hoopnumbers (08-09 compared to 09-10 thru Feb.) is of any interest, the basic suggestion is that the turnaround was almost entirely because of Durant and to a lesser degree Collison, with Durant having twice as much impact per minute and obviously playing more minutes.

It is suggested that Green and Westbrook both improved on team impact on offense but gave it all back by slipping on defense by equal amounts. Thabo and Sefolosha were also virtually unchanged in impact. All of these four were estimated to be real near in impact as a league average player.

In their first season numbers Harden looked mildly positive (compared to an average player) overall, Ibaka mildly negative. Maynor hadn't been rated in Seattle.

Looking at lower error multi-season RAPM, only Green is below average in overall impact.

This is just a cut that I looked at starting with the turnover differential element, which is one way to partially improve the offense. It apparently was not a strong way to change own team eFG%. That will take either further player and /or play-calling & executing or probably some different players given more minutes or brought in altogether.

If you value continuity a lot you could still start the current starters, but given that the current starters get 4 times the minutes of these 3 generally better performing lineups combined, maybe you shift some more minutes that way?? I would. At least come playoff time.

I'm not going to argue it, and I'm certainly not going to say you in particular feel or think one way when clearly you do not.

But I've seen a lot of Cavs fan give the duo response of "I hope we win the title" and "I think the best chance of keeping Lebron in Cleveland is winning a title." They go together.

I don't know that I've seen many Cavs fans say "I just hope Lebron wins us a title before he leaves if that's his decision." I'm sure some feel that way and have said it. I just haven't seen that sentiment that often even though I'm certain some fans feel that way. I would be shocked to hear this was the majority opinion and not the other way around.

i attempted to record all the passes from the 3rd qtr of last nights game, and it was difficult to keep up, took about 25 mins for 1 quarter and im not sure if i was totally accurate, it is just a lot to keep track of

I haven't heard about Varejao having an injury. The only thing I can come up with is Mike Brown had a logjam in the front court and never figured out what he should do. Shaq was coming back from injury right before the playoffs and Cleveland had since acquired Jamison.

And, when they acquired Jamison, Ilgaukas was with the Wizards and out of the rotation for a long time before they got him back.

I guess Mike Brown just panicked trying to find an answer to Garnett? Seems like he should've stuck with young legs like Hickson (who saw next to no minutes) and Varejao, but who knows?

@CrowHe's probably as good as anybody we could draft, or at least close to it.

Again, I am in favor of Babbitt for our backup 3 on the second unit and replacement if KD has an injury, but as a pro, his ceiling is probably not any higher than Outlaw's. He will probably be a bit superior offensively and a bit inferior defensively, equaling a wash.

Crow :I’ve thought about T. Outlaw a few times. Assumed he would cost a bit too much and want too many minutes to come to OKC but now think he might see his options squeezed more than he expects. Any opinion on him as a possible 15-20 minute tweener backup?

hard to find time for him - only 6-8 minutes at SF and he's not a SG or a PG . . .

I've thought about T. Outlaw a few times. Assumed he would cost a bit too much and want too many minutes to come to OKC but now think he might see his options squeezed more than he expects. Any opinion on him as a possible 15-20 minute tweener backup?

I didn't follow the series closely but Varejao has been their second most important player according to Adjusted +/-. He got 1/3rd less time this playoffs compared to last. Was it lingering injury issues?

"Thus, the Cavs somewhat overpaid virtually all their own free agents, because they were terrified that losing any of them would anger LeBron. Again, individually none of these deals seems that bad, but as a group the contracts of Zydrunas Ilgauskas (five years, $51 million), Anderson Varejao (six years, $51 million), Daniel Gibson (four years, $21 million), Pavlovic (four years, $17 million) and Drew Gooden (three years, $20 million) put the Cavs into a salary-cap squeeze. They could add talent only by cycling out contracts for even bigger contracts, usually getting older in the process."

Durantula :@blake Good luck with Thunder Chants, Blake. I don’t think you are trolling. If @Sammy doesn’t like your posts he should learn to skip over them. I’m all about making the Ford Center the best arena in the NBA and I support your efforts.

Agreed. I'd love to see some coordinated chants. That would be awesome and really make it like a college football atmosphere that no other NBA arena would be able to compete with. Anyone been to a game in College Station to see Texas A&M play? The way they do it is awesome. I think it would be amazing to have something cool like that.

Blake - maybe you should try to find out who does the AV stuff and see if they can help you coordinate stuff by putting certain things on the jumbotron to initiate certain things. It'd be a long shot, but maybe worth a try.

Thabo's value will never be higher than it is now, IMO, since he's not long for the world of starting SG with James Harden in his rear view mirror. I think trading him for a more legitimately rounded threat and defender, or even in a bundle for a big guy, has some merit. Finding a wing defender to back up James Harden for 20 minutes a game wouldn't be too difficult, and we might even have one on our roster already for 1/5 the price of Thabo (Weaver).

Its nice to see Tony Allen finally finding his groove in the NBA. He and Thabo are pretty similar players. Thabo has a better shot(Wow thats weird to say!), but doesnt drive to the rim as well as Tony.

I don't feel bad for Danny Ferry or Mike Brown or Lebron James or any of the Cavaliers.

I feel terrible for Cleveland's fans.

The sad thing is a lot of them probably cared less about winning a championship this year and more about whether or not Lebron would stay or go. Whatever outcome lead to him resigning was the more important to many of them. I'm sure every single one of them wanted to see James bring home a championship to Cleveland, but they also know what that team is going to look like without him.

It's a terrible situation. If we're ever in a similar situation with Durant, I know I'd be in sports depression mode. Here's to hoping the way KD has acted about the Thunder and OKC so far as been from the heart and not merely saying the right thing for appearances and professionalism.